Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entrant for 2026. Establishing the organization from the ground up has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the US, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the race track. After we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now at more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal just before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
